Recently, Channel 4 showed a documentary by reporter Jon Ronson on the Alpha course. It was called Revelations: How to Find God (1/8/09). Apparently Ronson approached 20 churches to get material for his report and the only one of these to agree was St. Aldate’s, Oxford, whose vicar is Charlie Cleverly. The result was broadcast at 7.00 pm on Sunday June 28.
Some have seen the portrayal as subtly cynical. However, I thought the report was relatively sympathetic. Ronson himself stated in a Radio Times interview: ‘This is a really gentle, human film. I wanted to make one that both Christians and agnostics would like. And I know that I’ve managed it, because we’ve shown the film both to the church and the agnostics and they’ve both really liked it. … the people who do the Alpha course are … just regular people trying to make sense of their lives and of the world’ (Radio Times, 27/6-3/7/2009, p.162).
Quite promising
Indeed, the early part of the course, when people were encouraged to discuss their misgivings about God or the Christian faith, seemed quite promising. It was clear that the initial objections people raise are fairly stereotypical. Alpha booklets are, in fact, available to answer all these points.
